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The 5th Annual Gonzaga Season Tip-off dinner

I didn’t see anyone else report about the evening so here is a few things I can recollect.

Due to unforeseen scheduling changes Coach Lloyd was unable to be the speaker for the event. Stephen Gentry filled in for him. Tommy was with 2 recruits on campus.

Lisa Fortier – Women’s coach spoke first
She talked about the incoming freshmen and that they are a very tough group but very green and rest of team is helping them to get acclimated with college ball. Some of the recruits were from small schools and had minimal coaching so they have a ways to go but the talent is there. We’re going to like the Wirth twins. She isn’t sure that Emma Wolfram will be able to be able to play with her knee injury. Lisa’s expecting a good year once the freshmen get some experience.

Stephen Gentry – Director of Operations
Talked about last year and how coach Few, instead of isolating the team, opened meetings to all the past players during the final 4 and finals. It turned out to be a special time for all.
He mentioned that players a beaten up right now but nothing serious. Melson twisted ankle, Joel hit to the face. Tillie missed KIK because of ankle but no problem. Could have played in real game.
He was asked about his starting 5. Probably Perkins, Melson, Rui, J3, and Tillie. But he said there is a lot of good competition and more importantly who is playing at the end of the game. (I know sounds like coach talk). Larsen is fully healthy. J3 looks like an All American in practice. Josh was sporting a new look at KIK, not sure we’ll see it again. Great athleticism and shooting on the team.
Recruiting isn’t panning out, as we all know, as well as hoped right now. But expect the longer term results. Perhaps the recruits on campus now?
Maui next year and Bahamas the following.

I didn’t jot anything down last night so feel free to add or correct anything.

I didn’t see anyone else report about the evening so here is a few things I can recollect.

Due to unforeseen scheduling changes Coach Lloyd was unable to be the speaker for the event. Stephen Gentry filled in for him. Tommy was with 2 recruits on campus.

Lisa Fortier – Women’s coach spoke first
She talked about the incoming freshmen and that they are a very tough group but very green and rest of team is helping them to get acclimated with college ball. Some of the recruits were from small schools and had minimal coaching so they have a ways to go but the talent is there. We’re going to like the Wirth twins. She isn’t sure that Emma Wolfram will be able to be able to play with her knee injury. Lisa’s expecting a good year once the freshmen get some experience.

Stephen Gentry – Director of Operations
Talked about last year and how coach Few, instead of isolating the team, opened meetings to all the past players during the final 4 and finals. It turned out to be a special time for all.
He mentioned that players a beaten up right now but nothing serious. Melson twisted ankle, Joel hit to the face. Tillie missed KIK because of ankle but no problem. Could have played in real game.
He was asked about his starting 5. Probably Perkins, Melson, Rui, J3, and Tillie. But he said there is a lot of good competition and more importantly who is playing at the end of the game. (I know sounds like coach talk). Larsen is fully healthy. J3 looks like an All American in practice. Josh was sporting a new look at KIK, not sure we’ll see it again. Great athleticism and shooting on the team.
Recruiting isn’t panning out, as we all know, as well as hoped right now. But expect the longer term results. Perhaps the recruits on campus now?
Maui next year and Bahamas the following.

I didn’t jot anything down last night so feel free to add or correct anything.

Hmmm do we know who the two recruits were? I think the general consensus was that one is Petrusev and the thinking was the other was Richardson. However, didn't Richardson actually arrive today? Maybe my timeline of events is off here.

I didn’t see anyone else report about the evening so here is a few things I can recollect.

Due to unforeseen scheduling changes Coach Lloyd was unable to be the speaker for the event. Stephen Gentry filled in for him. Tommy was with 2 recruits on campus.

Lisa Fortier – Women’s coach spoke first
She talked about the incoming freshmen and that they are a very tough group but very green and rest of team is helping them to get acclimated with college ball. Some of the recruits were from small schools and had minimal coaching so they have a ways to go but the talent is there. We’re going to like the Wirth twins. She isn’t sure that Emma Wolfram will be able to be able to play with her knee injury. Lisa’s expecting a good year once the freshmen get some experience.

Stephen Gentry – Director of Operations
Talked about last year and how coach Few, instead of isolating the team, opened meetings to all the past players during the final 4 and finals. It turned out to be a special time for all.
He mentioned that players a beaten up right now but nothing serious. Melson twisted ankle, Joel hit to the face. Tillie missed KIK because of ankle but no problem. Could have played in real game.
He was asked about his starting 5. Probably Perkins, Melson, Rui, J3, and Tillie. But he said there is a lot of good competition and more importantly who is playing at the end of the game. (I know sounds like coach talk). Larsen is fully healthy. J3 looks like an All American in practice. Josh was sporting a new look at KIK, not sure we’ll see it again. Great athleticism and shooting on the team.Recruiting isn’t panning out, as we all know, as well as hoped right now. But expect the longer term results. Perhaps the recruits on campus now?
Maui next year and Bahamas the following.

I didn’t jot anything down last night so feel free to add or correct anything.

He mentioned that players a beaten up right now but nothing serious. Melson twisted ankle, Joel hit to the face. Tillie missed KIK because of ankle but no problem. Could have played in real game.
I didn’t jot anything down last night so feel free to add or correct anything.

I'm glad to hear this. I know that it's going to be a real war out there during practices. There are very good players who are competing for time on the court, and they will be giving it their all. I'm also glad to hear that no one is seriously hurt. Players had better be getting their ankles taped, and they better be wearing knee pads because I imagine that a lot of them (if not all of them) will be hitting the floor a lot. Regarding Melson's concussion, I think think it most likely came when he was driving to the basket. I'm glad to hear that our "bigs" are not making it easy for those players who want to attack the basket. The toughness of our post players is somewhat in question I think, and they are going to respond to that. I think that defense is going to be the top priority for the team in the early part of this season. Those players who are willing to play the kind of defense Few wants will be getting the most playing time. Only a few more weeks and we'll be seeing them in action.

With that in my, isn't he there as a sort of mouth piece for the men's basketball team? Tommy Lloyd usually does these things, and if he said who his starting 5 were I would take it pretty authoritatively. Gentry is in the coaches' meetings, I presume. This starting 5 is somewhere between reading the tea leaves and hearing it straight from the horse's mouth, but much closer to the latter, in my opinion.

Interesting note about GU's return to the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2019. I would like to find out the field. It's probably not all set yet.

It will be interesting to find out what tournament the team goes for in 2020. They haven't done the Wooden thing in Anaheim yet. Whether it is Wooden or the Orlando thing, I would be very cautious about committing to anything until GU knows that some heavy hitters have signed up. The Orlando tournament is starting to not attract the big time teams that it used to. At some point you have to ask yourself if GU is better off doing a tournament-free year and scheduling a couple of home and homes and maybe a one off neutral site game. On the other hand, you don't want to say no to a tournament organizer, because you might not be asked back in the future.

What was served for dinner I seem to recall some people saying that the food wasn't all that great for last season's tip off dinner.

Dinner was a buffet with ample snacks, not really a dinner. Colored corn chips with a nice corn/avocado-like relish (tasty). Potato salad, macaroni salad, beef sandwiches, hot dogs, and a biscuit with cooked sweet apples in a heavy sauce for dessert. Enough left over for seconds. Also included are two drink tickets good for beer or wine. Totally adequate groceries. I'm glad they spend the money on the team and not the donors. Also glad the event is now on campus instead of at the Spokane Club.

not much news

The Seattle tip-off was mostly a commercial about the healthy state of athletic programs at Gonzaga (winning teams, new facilities, graduation rates, no FBI worries, Academic All-Americans, longevity of coaches, predictions of on-going success for the foreseeable future, succession planning - Lloyd positioned to be Few's successor -, and so on). A very feel-good night for a smallish, appreciative audience of about 60 folks. Bud Withers and Marco Gonzalez attended.

Tommy Lloyd, and to some extent Mike Roth, recapped last season. Lloyd was emotional about the reunion of all the past players at the Final Four. He called it "epic."

Roth handled most of the discussion about the FBI investigation and how it was great to be able to sleep at night knowing that our coaches would never get involved in paying recruits. Implied that there may be more schools/coaches who will be exposed, although he stressed that they are the minority in the NCAA.

Lisa Fortier gave a traditional rundown of the WBB roster and schedule. Looks like the women's team is going to be very good and very fast.

Tommy Lloyd didn't go as in-depth about the individual men players as at past tip-offs. He said he like the fact that SMC was picked ahead of GU in the WCC as it will be a great motivator. Expressed a lot of confidence that JWIII, Perkins, and Melson are ready to step up. He raved about Rui's athleticism and said Rui will likely see time in tandem with Tillie (likening it to the way the Zags paired Harris/Olynyk in the front court). The only surprise to me was that Jesse Wade has had shoulder problems and hasn't been able to practice much.

Lloyd discussed recruiting in general for several minutes. He seemed to be responding to critics who think Gonzaga is whiffing on a lot of recruits this year. He stressed that many times it isn't the player turning down GU, rather GU pulls back from a number of recruits for its own reasons. He also said the number of potential recruits that haven't panned out this year are similar to other years. He thinks the misperception of less success is fueled by the fact that there is more press coverage of the Zag's recruiting efforts than in the past.

As far as the Battle in Seattle, Roth said they definitely are trying to bring it back. They want to make sure they have a quality opponent if they are going to play in Seattle, i.e., no repeat of the Cal Poly/Southern Alabama type teams. He indicated that they thought they had a good one lined up this year, but it fell through. He said they were also looking into possibility of having the women's team and men's team play alternate years in Seattle.

Tommy Lloyd also told a classic story. A question came up about the emotions of certain players ... and Tommy talked about how some guys need to get fired up and play with a chip on their shoulder. He specifically mentioned Adam Morrison ... about how he needed to get fired up.

Periodically, Leon Rice would get off the team bus at an away venue ... hustle down to the locker room and write on the blackboard .. "Adam Morrison is an a@$hole" ... then leave and enter the locker room with the team. "Look at that !!! Who wrote that? .... I don't know ... must have been one of their guys" ... and voila ... Adam was suddenly "motivated"..

Tommy went on a bit about Jeremy Jones ... what a tough and hard nosed player he is (i.e. Pendo/Hart). He re-told the story of getting a call from Jeremy, who was a scholarship q.b. and walk on basketball player at Rice .... and that he wanted to transfer to Gonzaga. Jeremy had been moved by what he'd seen at the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 (GU's win over UCLA and late loss to Duke) and wanted to be a part of it. Tommy said there were no scholarships ... but Jones came anyway. And he's been a very good player who "fits" ... will play, and is now on scholarship at Gonzaga.

Tommy Lloyd also told a classic story. A question came up about the emotions of certain players ... and Tommy talked about how some guys need to get fired up and play with a chip on their shoulder. He specifically mentioned Adam Morrison ... about how he needed to get fired up.

Periodically, Leon Rice would get off the team bus at an away venue ... hustle down to the locker room and write on the blackboard .. "Adam Morrison is an a@$hole" ... then leave and enter the locker room with the team. "Look at that !!! Who wrote that? .... I don't know ... must have been one of their guys" ... and voila ... Adam was suddenly "motivated"..